This invention relates to a venting device and more particularly a venting device for a feeder which has a feeding teat. It also relates to a teat mounting closure that incorporates the venting device.
Feeders intended for the feeding of young animals such as calves, lambs, deer etc. can take the form of a bottle or container to which is mounted a feeding teat. In use the animal can suckle the teat and thereby derive a supply of liquid feed from within the bottle/container. The present invention has been primarily devised for such feeders but could also have application with other forms of teat feeders for the feeding of young animals in which a substantially closed container needs to be vented.
To ensure that the animal can derive a good flow of feed from the bottle/container it is known to provide some means of venting the interior of the bottle/container to relieve any build up of negative pressure in the bottle/container. However, venting arrangements can be unreliable in use and/or lead to undesired leakage of the liquid feed from the bottle/container during feeding of the animal. Leakage of feed can result in not only loss of valuable feed but also the creation of a mess.
Also the venting arrangement can become clogged up or not provide an effective vent to cope with the demands of an animal feeding from the bottle/container. This can especially occur when the vent includes a moving part or parts that cease to operate either fully or partially.
In this specification reference will be made to the animal feeder comprising a bottle. However, this is for convenience of description and the skilled person will appreciate that the venting device according to the invention has application to other forms of animal feeders.